Various aspects of this disclosure relate generally to wireless communications, e.g. to systems and methods for implementing measurement reporting in fourth generation mobile radio communications technology (4G). The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and its Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile radio communications technology describe the general principles and functionality of 4G systems. In an LTE mobile radio communications system, a mobile radio communication terminal device (also referred to as User Equipment (UE)) usually communicates through the so-called Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) with other users, servers, and entities in a mobile radio communications network. A UE typically exchanges information with the eNodeB (a radio base station) over the air interface. In order to provide the mobile radio communications network with continuous information about its current radio conditions, the UE measures certain parameters in accordance with the measurement configuration setup by the E-UTRAN (e.g. by an RRC_CONNECTION_RECONFIGURATION message). The measurement results are transmitted to the eNodeB in a measurement report message.
The UE has to obey the rules set out in 3GPP 36.331, however, the procedure for event triggered measurement reporting inherits a deficiency and can be improved. For the so-called neighbor cell measurement reporting through events A3, A4, A5, A6, B1 and B2, using the current 3GPP procedure, the UE may sometimes be unable to report the best neighbor mobile radio cell to the mobile radio communications network. Note whether or not the best neighbor mobile radio cell gets reported may be subject to the exact sequence of events and conditions over a period of time as well as the specific measurement configuration. Depending on the sequence of events and conditions, the best neighbor may or may not get reported. Moreover, following a neighboring mobile radio cell change, some scenarios exist where the best neighbor mobile radio cell can never get reported to the mobile radio communications network.